climate scientists predict an end to the drought plaguing new mexico and the southwest - and relief could come in a matter of weeks. but stuart dyson reports that won't do a thing to change the extreme wildfire danger afflicting the state right now. minute thumbnail 06:07 pm "they say a decent summer rainy season is on the way - in maybe six weeks - breaking a long chain of drought years - but right now the woods are matchstick dry and ready to ignite." after another winter of not much snow the springtime heat is baking every bit of moisture out of the forests - making them more than ripe for devastating large scale wildfires. the good news is that most climatologists and meteorologists agree - la nina is checking out - and that means a return to at least average rainfall this summer. " it gives us some pretty good signals that the monsoon that we depend on for our summer rains has a good chance of being a normal to strong monsoon this year." forest rangers - like everybody else - are looking forward to it. " if the monsoons come and hit on time that's great. q: you've got some problems to deal with right now though? a: yeah - i've got the next 6 weeks to 2 months to deal with - that's what i'm minute thumbnail 06:08 pm concerned about - what's in front of me right now." what's in front of her is millions of acres of bone-dry burn-ready forest - and scientists say don't count on a quick fix. " it takes awhile - i mean it's not instant - some of these weather patterns are very slow so i wouldn't expect - gee it's gone in june - where's the rain?" " climatologists are predicting just an average rainfall for new mexico this summer - what they call neutral - but after years of drought neutral is going to feel like a tropical downpour - in the manzanos stuart dyson k-o-b eyewitness news four
